Despite a rain-bomb interruption, the inaugural Classic TT looks like becoming a regular on the racing calendar
100 years ago, Goulburn in rural NSW was the heart of motorcycle racing in Australia. The first Tourist Trophy race was run here in 1914 before the first Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix in 1924.
These were important events, attracting big crowds and sponsorship, making Goulburn and the surrounding towns boom when the racers turned up.
The racing in those days was run on public streets, with road closures and all the ensuing problems that would cause for the public, not to mention the dangerous conditions for the riders, so by the late 1920s racing was moving to purpose-built, closed-course tracks.
The Classic Motorcycle Racing Club’s new event, the Classic TT, is now being run to recognise that history, with the event being held at Goulburn’s track, One Raceway. “It came about because of the history of the TT in Goulburn,” event co-ordinator for the CMRC Peter MacMillan told AMCN. “From the very first car race, the very first bike race. And we had the TT logo trademarked and registered for years, and we thought, everyone does a festival of some sort. We’ll make it a TT event.”
Hopefully weather won’t intervene in the future like it did in 2026… after Friday’s practice and qualifying, Saturday morning’s racing was fast and furious until a very black cloud swept in.
“We got all the officials off the track and waited for the lightning to pass, and then this rain bomb just came over and ‘bang’,” said MacMillan.
“The rain stopped – we were able to go out and clean the track up, but the water in Turn One was just running across the track about an inch or so deep. It was just too dangerous. We held a meeting – and I think there were two who wanted to go out. The rest said, ‘No, no, no, we’ll go to the pub’.”
The intensity of the rain had water flowing under the doors to the pits, causing riders to scramble to make things like tyre warmers and battery chargers safe.
Sunday’s racing was hampered by a little drizzle during a couple of the early bouts, but cleared for an excellent day’s racing.
The club had hoped to make it a Trans-Tasman event too, with some Kiwis lined up to race, but logistics and costs couldn’t be overcome for this inaugural meeting; the plans are in place for 2027. Another change will be a TT race – there was no premier event scheduled for 2026, as the club was getting a feel for what its members wanted – so there’s no ‘premier class winner’ in 2026.
In addition to numerous classic racing bike classes, the club also looked to some other interesting machines that would fit in with the feel of the event. “We invited the BEARS (British, European, American Racing Series) along for the first round of their club championship and the Roaring Sporties (Harley-Davidson Sportsters) – it was the second round of their championship.”
Classes included Class C shifters – hand-shift motorcycles from the days when this was common. Most of the entries were Harley-Davidson WLA models or Indians. These were mainly World War II-era 750s produced in huge numbers for military service and now all over 80 years old!
Watching riders charging into Turn 1 and taking their hand off the ’bars to downshift before tipping the bike over, while riding a bike that could easily be older than their grandfathers, makes for a different aspect of motorsport to what we’re familiar with in 2026.
Although the crowd wasn’t huge, the burger truck ran out of food and there were some very pretty bikes in the parking areas. Some participated in the parade laps, run during the marshal’s lunch break, giving the public and racers a chance to show off their bikes and feel what they’re like on a racetrack.
The Isle of Man’s two TT events – one for modern bikes and the Classic TT for older machines – are huge festivals and celebrations of motorcycle racing and its history. With this modest start, the Classic Motorcycle Racing Club has a basis to work from, hopefully building this event into one of the premier historic motorcycle racing events in Australia. With some international riders and a premier class title to battle for, we might just see a new ‘must-see’ event on the Aussie racing calendar.
The Winners
Michael Berti Mendez’s domination of the races he and his Ducati TT2 entered was comprehensive, with four wins from four starts in the Superbike Masters class, with Paul Grant-Mitchell (Kawasaki ZX-6R) second overall. Paul Parlett, riding a beautiful Heron Suzuki-liveried XR69, finished third overall. Berti Mendez dominated P5 Unlimited with three wins from three starts.
Most classes lost a race to Saturday’s thunderstorm, so Clinton Taylor’s three from three in the P4 – 350 class was exceptional, matched by Paul Parlett in P5 – 250, Roly Orr (P4 – 250), William Sayer (P3 – Unlimited) and Wayne Gow (P4 – Unlimited). Sam Lucchitti won three from four in the Roaring Sporties, his brother Ben picking up a win in the final race to go with three second-place finishes.
Adam Terry picked up two wins and a second spot in the BEARS F3 class, but crashing in the second race allowed Michael Jeffrey to take the overall honours with a win and three second places. Fergus Gibson’s three third-place finishes and a win helped him to second overall ahead of Terry.
Brad Gander, Peter Eyles and Voya Kissitch finished first to third in each of the F5 races.
Matthew Edwards (Laverda 1000) cleaned up the popular BEARS F4 class, with Ben Lucchitti (HD) and Rick Fitzsimmons (Triumph Thruxton) rounding out the top three.
